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Guilty Pleasure: Ikea Swedish Meatballs

I worked up a serious appetite while shopping for arts and crafts on Columbus Blvd and needed something nearby that would be ready for me to eat immediately. It took some convincing, but I got my ladies to agree to stop at… the Ikea Food Court!

I needed my Swedish meatball fix! It looks like there are about 16 of these mostly roundly shaped balls of questionable meat, plus a scoop of perfectly decent mashed potatoes, and of course, the real crown jewels- the brown gravy and lingonberry sauce. All of this for a mere $3.99! Ikea really knows how to make a good deal. This was not my first rodeo with the meatballs, and sadly they were a little drier than past experiences. But once covered in salty gravy and the tart lingonberries, it doesn’t really matter. Besides this signature platter, I also love the lingonberry soda and recommend picking up a bottle of elderflower syrup for cocktails. And where else can you buy a lamp with your lunch?

9 Comments

No, there shouldn’t be any guilt involved in eating these. They’re decent, and they’re cheap… BUT (and this is not against Jamie at all), there should be better things to post about in a city of this size, than freaking IKEA meatballs.

Want to get depressed? Go over to the NY side of this site. They have so much more variety and quality (and no, I do not equate quality with expensive) than Philadelphia. It’s sickening. I’ve been living down here (for work) for just over two years, and I can’t wait to get back up to New York.

I had high hopes, Philadelphia, but at the end of the day, you fall flat on your face (with cheesesteaks and a few restaurants here and there being notable, albeit infrequent exceptions).

Well LA DEE (… BUT (and this is not against LVorenus at all) overuse of parentheticals is sickening (i mean literally because reading all of those (by the way, “infrequent exception” is redundant (BUT “albeit” makes you sound super smart though so don’t worry about it)) causes nausea)) DA.

Sorry for all the parentheticals; I’m surprised they’d sicken you, though. I’m probably not alone in thinking that someone with a good ‘merican handle like “Milk Steak” would have an iron constitution.

LA DEE (I was criticizing the city, not its residents or proponents, Milk Steak, but way to make it personal.) DA.

There are plenty of lunches in our great city and I am far from running out of things to write about. I like to think that this site covers a wide array of ethnicities, price ranges, and venues. I wrote about Ikea only after realizing the two friends I was with had never tried them and loved them after I forced them to have some of mine. I figured if they never thought to try them, maybe others were in the same position.

I would never compare NYC to Philly, I love eating in both and both have their own merits. For example, you will run into some trouble finding Uzbeki food in Manhattan, while Philly has several amazing options North of CC.

I am a strong believer that Philly’s food scene is something to be proud of. One of my favorite things to do is helping someone find a particular dish they have been seeking! That offers stands for any one of my hungry readers.

Haha you got me on the ramen. That truly is the one concession I will make in the Philly food debate. Why are we doing it so wrong?

As for the food trucks- that is an unfortunate consequence of the city’s restrictions, though I personally know plenty of food truck operators who would be more than happy to operate late night. This is one of the many issues the newly formed Philly Mobile Food Vendor Association plans to work on with the city.